Public Guides: next-generation EDI implementation guides for real-time partner onboarding
Every EDI relationship begins with an implementation guide. These EDI implementation guides have been shared in the same format for decades – they’re typically PDFs with dozens or hundreds of pages of details to sift through, and a successful EDI implementation requires getting the details just right.
After reviewing and implementing a partner’s guide, companies have no way of validating their EDI files locally. Their only option to test is to send test files and hope that they’re correct, wasting time and effort on both sides. The fixing of one error reveals another, dragging the partner onboarding process on for weeks. Throw in the fact that many PDF implementation guides and sample files have errors within them, you begin to understand why EDI gets a bad reputation.
Stedi guides can be built out in minutes by anyone using a no-code visual interface, regardless of technical ability. Existing PDFs can be quickly replicated into a Stedi guide, or new guides can be built from scratch. Once built, a guide can be made public instantly.
Features
- Interactive documentation for trading partners to easily navigate specifications with contextual references. No more scrolling through dozens of pages in a PDF.
- Embedded EDI Inspector to help your partners instantly validate EDI payloads against your requirements without sending you any traffic.
- Built-in support for all X12 transaction sets and releases, allowing you to configure X12-conformant specifications without custom development.
- Customizable specifications, so you can make the X12 standard work for you and not be constrained by strict interpretation.
- No coding experience required to build a public guide using the visual interface.
- Brand your guide with a business logo and name, a custom URL slug, and a link to your own website.

Public Guides is now generally available
Using Public Guides
You or a trading partner can also export the guide as a PDF. The PDF still retains all the references so partners can look up information on the segments and elements in the transaction set that they don’t fully understand from the guide. However, you’ll miss the ability to validate EDI files.
Define EDI requirements easily using a no-code visual interface. The output is an artifact that can be used to share interactive documentation, or for parsing, generating, or validating X12 EDI documents.
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